THE JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGIES: THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS Sanjay S. Mehta Balasundram Maniam Mark Leipnik Sam Houston State University Huntsville, TX Abstract The historical publishing pattern of JRS is examined. Authors from 171 institutions have written over 176 articles from Spring 1984 to Fall 1998. Contributions to the journal were studied in terms of numbers ofschools repre- sented, number of authors per article, diversity of articles, gender of authors, types of citations, and empirical orientation of the articles. Findings indicate that publications in JBS represents a significant scholarly contribution to the field ofbusiness strategy. Few differences were detected between JBS and other selected journals. Recommendation to enhance JBS are based on quantitative analysis ofpast JBS articles and personal interviews with selected stakeholders. Introduction The publication of this issue of the Journal of Business Strategies (JBS) marks the end of the fifteenth year of publication. It is important for a journal, when it reaches a significant milestone, to look at where it has been, where it is, and where it could be in the future (Malhotra, 1996; Hyman & Steiner, 1997; Muncy,1991). Summary articles of single journals have been written for many well-established business journals. For example, The Journal of Advertising (Muncy, 1991), Journal of Accounting Education (Lehman & Street, 1990), Journal of 1nternational Business Studies (Inkpen & Beamish, 1994; Chandy and Williams, 1994), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (Malhotra, 1996), Journal of Consumer Affairs (Geistfeld & Key, 1986), Journal of Eco- nomic Psychology (Van Raaij, 1986), Journal ofMarketing Education (Clark & Hanna, 1986), Journal of Business Communication (Koch, 1979; Reinsch & Lewis, 1993), Journal of Marketing (Grether, 1976; Marquardt & Murdock, 1986), Journal of Finance (Schweser, 1977; Heck, Cooley & Hubbard, 1986; Schroeder, Langrehr & Floyd, 1995), Journal of Macromarketing (Finn & The editor thanks Michael Hyman for his thoughtful and constructive review of this paper. 90 Journal of Business Strategies Vol. 16, No.1 McQuitty, 1994), Journal ofApplied Business Research (Urbanek, 1994),Jour- nal of Business and Entrepreneurship (Hyman & Steiner, 1997), Journal of Purchasing and Material Management (Williams & Oumlil, 1987), and Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management (Swan, Powers & Sobczak, 1991). Because no article has ever looked at the past, present and future of JBS, its fifteen year anniversary seems an appropriate time for such an effort. The primary purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of JBS from conception to its present state. More specifically, the article will provide a detailed look at specific aspects of the oldest business strategy journal based on both quantita- tive and qualitative research methodologies. History JBS was founded in 1982 at the Center for Business and Economic Re- search, Sam Houston State University. Since its inception, JBS has been pub- lished semiannually (i.e., spring and fall). The first issue of JBS was published in spring 1984 under the editorship of William B. Green. In a recent interview, William B. Green indicated that the first issue mainly contained invited articles from reputable authors because he wanted to make sure "that the Journal of Business Strategies started off with some quality articles." This was done to attract quality articles in the future and also to sell JBS to both practitioners and academicians. Beginning with the second issue, all articles were double blind reviewed by selected members of the Editorial Board. He also indicated thatJBS established itself as a reputable journal with ever improving manuscripts. He added that he is pleased that the quality of the Editorial Board has been sustained and improved. Susan A. Simmons took over editorial duties in spring 1986. No significant changes were observed during Simmons' tenures as the editor of JBS. Most of the articles published during both Green's and Simmons' tenure as editor were in the area of management strategy. In spring 1987, George D. Greenwade became the third editor of JBS. He immediately instituted three major changes. First, JBS took on a glossy look. Second, the fa111987 issue contained a cumu- lative index of previously published articles. Third, the fa111988 issue contained the only paid advertisement in JBS history. Jo Ann Duffy became the fourth editor of JBS in fall 1990. With one exception, the status quo was maintained during Duffy's tenure as the editor. Beginning the fall of 1991, biographical sketches of the authors were published. In the fall of 1992, Roger D. Abshire became the fifth editor of JRS. During his short tenure as editor (i.e., two issues), the Center for Business and Economic Research was renamed the Gibson D. Lewis Center for Business and Economic Development. While this change had a significant impact on the institution, it had no impact on JBS. JoAnn Duffy was reappointed the editor for the fall 1993 issue and she has remained the editor until today. During Duffy's second tenure as the editor, she implemented two Spring 1999 Mehta, Maniam, & Leipnik: The First Fifteen Years 91 changes. First, the cover of the journal was "modernized." Second, a web site (http://COBA.SHSU.edu/jbs/) was created where researchers could order ar- ticles from past issues of the journal. As fRS prepares for the next millennium, one of Duffy's long-term goals is to attract more articles that are relevant to practitioners. According to Duffy, "the upcoming special issues on Services Marketing and Banking is one avenue of moving the journal to address the needs of practitioners." Findings Output During its first fifteen years, 176 articles have been published in fRS. As shown in Table 1, the average length of the article was 12.22 pages and the average articles per issue were 5.87. The average length of the article is consis- tent with others journals (12.22 pages versus 10.5 pages respectively), and the average number of articles published per issue is about the same as other journals (Malhotra, 1996; Hyman & Steiner, 1997). Likewise, it has other simi- lar attributes consistent with other journals, such as number of issues per year and total number of pages per issue. However, it was observed that there is a trend for the number of pages per article to increase (Le.• from 8.80 in 1984 to 19.70 in 1996). Table 1 JBS Output Per Year· 1984 • 1998 Year Number of Articles* Total Number of Pages* Pages per Article 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Total 5+5=10 5+4=9 5+5=10 5+5=10 6 + 8 =14 8 + 7 =15 7 + 8 =15 6 + 8 =14 9+8=17 6 + 7 =13 6 + 6 =12 6+4::010 5 + 5 = 10 5+4=9 4+4=8 176 41 + 47 =88 47 + 41 = 88 51+44=95 47 + 40 = 97 52+66=118 77 + 84 = 161 65+67=132 76 + 71 = 147 85 + 110= 195 78 + 89 =167 82+ 101 = 183 98+82=180 106 + 91 = 197 82+73=155 72 + 75 = 147 2150 8.80 9.80 9.50 9.70 8.40 10.73 8.80 10.50 11.50 12.80 15.25 18.00 19.70 17.20 18.38 12.22 (mean) * The first number and second number represent the first and second issues respectively. 92 Journal of Business Strategies Vol. 16, No.1 Table 2 Institution Affiliation of Authors Unequal Equal Institution Unweighted weights weights Mississippi State University 10.00 4.65 4.84 Sam Houston State University 9.00 4.60 4.50 Auburn University 9.00 3.85 3.84 University of Texas at San Antonio 9.00 3.40 3.50 Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge 8.00 3.25 3.00 Texas A&M - College Station 7.00 2.60 2.50 Lamar University 7.00 2.20 2.20 Kansas State University 7.00 2.05 1.94 Southeastern Louisiana University 6.00 2,45 2.40 The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga 6.00 1.85 2.00 University of Texas - Tyler 5.00 4.30 4.25 Louisiana Tech University 5.00 2.65 2.49 Eastern lllinois University 5.00 2.40 2.17 Georgia State Universj~y 5.00 1.50 1.42 East Carolina University 4.00 2.20 2.33 Middle Tennessee State University 4.00 2.10 1.97 Jacksonville State University 4.00 2.05 1.50 University of Oklahoma 4.00 2.00 2.00 University of North Carolina at Charlotte 4.00 2.00 2.00 Sonoma State University 4.00 2.00 2.00 Southwest Missouri State University 4.00 1.80 1.56 Iowa State University 4.00 1.75 1.99 McNeese State University 4.00 1.60 1.50 University of North Texas 4.00 1.45 1.50 East Tennessee State University 4.00 1.45 1.34 Memphis State University 4.00 1.30 1.42 Florida Atlantic University 4.00 1.05 1.10 University of Texas - Pan American 3.00 2.00 2.00 New Mexico State University 3.00 2.00 2.00 University of Missouri 3.00 1.80 1.67 Purdue University 3.00 1.40 1.50 Florida International University 3.00 1.40 1.17 Marshall University 3.00 1.20 1.33 Shippensburg University 3.00 1.20 1.17 Grand Valley State University 3.00 1.20 0.93 Western Carolina University 3.00 1.00 1.00 Virginia Commonwealth University 3.00 1.00 1.00 Kent State University 3.00 1.00 1.00 University of Maryland 3.00 1.00 1.00 Spring 1999 Mehta, Maniam, & Leipnik: The First Fifteen Years 93 Table 2 Institution Affiliation of Authors (continued) Unequal Equal Institution Unweighted weights weights Idaho State University 3.00 1.00 1.00 Florida State University 3.00 1.00 1.00 University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 3.00 1.00 1.00 University of Louisville 2.00 2.00 2.00 Norfolk University 2.00 2.00 2.00 Illinois State University 2.00 1.60 1.50 University of Notre Dame 2.00 1.60 1.50 John Carroll University 2.00 1.20 1.00 University of Houston - Clear Lake 2.00 1.00 1.00 Oregon State University 2.00 1.00 1.00 University of Delaware 2.00 1.00 1.00 Southern Illinois University 2.00 1.00 1.00 Florida A&M University 2.00 1.00 1.00 lona College 2.00 1.00 1.00 St. Cloud University 2.00 1.00 1.00 University of Michigan - Dear Born 2.00 1.00 1.00 North Carolina Central University 2.00 1.00 1.00 Barry University 2.00 0.90 0.75 Oklahoma State University 2.00 0.80 1.00 Indiana University 2.00 0.80 1.00 Arizona State University 2.00 0.80 0.83 Texas Tech University 2.00 0.80 0.70 University of Kentucky 2.00 0.80 0.67 University of Newcastle 2.00 0.80 0.67 Cameron University 2.00 0.75 0.70 Suffolk University 2.00 0.70 0.59 University of South Carolina 2.00 0.65 0.65 The University of Tennessee 2.00 0.55 0.66 Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2.00 0.55 0.66 The University of Georgia 2.00 0.55 0.66 Nicholls State University 2.00 0.55 0.53 University of Colorado at Boulder 2.00 0.45 0.50 Note: All cells in the second column (unweighted) with values less than 1 was deleted from this table to shorten the table. Unweighted: All authors were given equal weights (each author was assigned a I) Unequal weights: If two authors then 0.6 & 0.4; If three authors then 0.45, 0.35, & 0.20; If four authors then 0.30. 0.25, 0.25, 0.20; If five authors then 0.25, 0.20, 0.20, 0.20, 0.10 Equal weights; If two authors then 0.5 & 0.5; If three authors then 0.34,0.33, & 0.33; If four authors then 0.25,0.25,0.25,0.25; If five authors then 0.20,0.20,0.20,0.20,0.20 94 Journal of Business Strategies Vol. 16, No. 1 Authorship Many studies use authorship with respect to institutional affiliation or the affiliation tally to gauge the diversity of authors andlor institutions that have published in a particular journal. It is an appropriate measure because institu- tions of higher education provide various resources and incentives to encourage high productivity among faculty. Because authorship with respect to institu- tional affiliation can enhance image and reputation of an institution, many serial retrospectives list the most common institutional affiliations of authors (Hyman & Steiner, 1997; Carnaghan, Flower-Gyepesi & Gibbins, 1994; Clark, Hancock & Kaminski, 1997; Clark & Hanna, 1986; Fields & Swayne, 1988; Geistfeld & Key, 1986; Gentry, Allen & Vellenga, 1995; Goldsmith, 1983; Hoverstad, Shipp & Higgins, 1995; Reinsch & Lewis, 1993, Swan, Powers & Sobczak, 1991; Wheatley & Wilson, 1987). Table 2 lists the most common institutional affiliations of JBS authors weighted by three measures: unweighted, unequal weighted, and equal weighted authorship. The unweighted and equal weighted measurement techniques have been previously used by several authors of summary articles (Hyman & Steiner 1997). The unequal weighted technique is unique to this study. The order and weights assigned represents the contribution of each of the authors to the manu- script. The only exception to this technique is if the authors are listed in alpha- betical order. To keep the list of institutions manageable, only institutions that have an unweighted scores greater than 1 are reported (unweighted score of 1 means that the institution's authors published one coauthored article in iBS). The top five universities, using either ofthe three weighting methods, are as follows: Missis- sippi State University, Sam Houston State University, Auburn University, Uni- versity of Texas at San Antonio, Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge. and Texas A&M - College Station. The inclusion of Sam Houston State University in that list may suggest that JBS has become an in-house publication outlet. Further analysis shows that there is no such association. For example, no authors from Sam Houston State University have published an article in iBS from 1993 to the last issue in 1998, Diversity Given its nature, iBS attracts manuscripts from diverse disciplines. Using Hyman and Steiner (1997) categories of academic areas, Table 3 shows the most published disciplines in iRS are management, finance, and marketing. Specifically, 57.4% of the articles are about management and organizational behavior, 13.6% are about finance, and 11.4% are about marketing. One likely reason for the high percentage of management and organizational behavior articles in iBS is its title, which implies its orientation towards management and strategy issues. Generally, authors tend to do research in their area of specialization or home disciplines (Geitfeld & Key, 1986). It is safe to conclude that most authors in Spring 1999 Mehta, Maniam, & Leipnik: The First Fifteen Years 95 JBS are from management, finance, and marketing related disciplines. Unfortu- nately, because biographical sketches of the authors were not published prior to 1991, no further implication or conclusion can be drawn regarding the authors primary area of research and teaching. Table 3 Academic Area of JBS Articles Academic Area Frequency Percent Management/Organizational Behavior Marketing Accounting Finance Insurance/Small Business Entrepreneurship Economics International Business Unknown and Others Total 101 20 9 24 8 5 1 8 176 57.39 11.36 5.11 13.64 4.55 2.84 0.57 4.55 100 Gender of Authors Another criterion used to evaluate journals is the ratio of male to female authors. Similar to other journals, where the ratio of male to female authors is about 4 to 1, the ratio for JBS is roughly the same. Table 4 highlights the difference between JBS and three other selected serials. Out of 375 authors, 317 (84.5%) are male. Also, further analysis found that like other comparable jour- nal authors, JBS authors also tend to choose coauthors of the same gender (McDowell & Smith, 1992). Coauthorship A growing percentage of articles published in business journals have mul- tiple authors. As noted by Hyman and Steiner (1997), an increasing percent of business and psychology articles published annually are coauthored (Barnett, Ault & Kaserman, 1988; DuFrene & Nelson, 990; McDowell & Melvin, 1983; Presser, 1980; Schroeder, Langrehr & Floyd, 1995). Urbancic (1992) also concluded that two thirds of accounting articles from 1978 to 1988 that were written by reputable and well-known accounting authors were coauthored. Similarly, McDowell and Melvin (1983) found that in the area of economics, there is a positive correlation between experience and the prob- ability of coauthorship. In other words, the greater the experience of an author, the higher the probability of coauthoring. We believe that this trend may partly be attributed to the increasing number of schools seeking greater research output from their faculty (i.e., "the publish or perish" mentality). Many institutions, 96 Journal of Business Strategies Vol. 16, No. 1 especially smaller universities, do not or cannot provide the necessary tools for such productivity (e.g., databases, reduced teaching assignments, graduate re- search assistants). Therefore, coauthors tend to be faculty members from differ- ent institutions. Table 4 Gender of Authors in JBS and Selected Serials Gender JBS Freq. Pet. JBE* Pet. CAR* Pet. JME* Pet. Male Female 317 58 84.5 15.6 80.3 19.7 88.5 11.5 91.4 8.6 Notes: JBE is Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship CAR is Contemporary Accounting Research JME is Journal of Marketing Research * Hyman and Steiner (1997) In JBS, only 27.8% of the articles (49 out of 176) had one author, 39.2% (69 out of 176) had two authors, 27.8% (49 out of 176) had three authors, and only 5.1 % (9 out of 176) had four or more authors. The percentage of single-authored articles in JBS is significantly lower than in other selected business journals (see Table 5). In fact, the closest journal to JBS is the Journal ofPersonal Selling and Sales Management (JPSSM) with 49.6%; all others are above 50%. On the other hand, the percentage of two author articles in JBS is twice as much as all other journals (39.3%) except JPSSM (25.2%). This indicates that authors in JBS contribute fewer single author articles and more two author articles than authors who contribute to other journals. The average number of authors per article is 2.10 (370/176). The highest average was in 1991, at 2.5, and the lowest average was in 1987, at 104. References The impact of other researchers and disciplines on research trends can be studied by citation analysis (Hyman & Steiner, 1997; Chandy & Williams, 1994; Reinsch & Lewis, 1993). The average number of references used in an article can reveal how much JBS authors draw from other researchers. The formal definitions of the various citations are given in Table 6 above. Table 7 shows thatJBS authors referenced 23.85 citations per article. While the mean number of citations for JBS is lower than Journal of International Business Studies (35.8) and Journal of Business Communication (32.3), it is Spring 1999 Mehta, Maniam, & Leipnik: The First Fifteen Years 97 higher than Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship (20.6), Journal of Ac- counting Education (11.2), and Home Economics Research Journal (16.9) (Hyman & Steiner, 1997). Upon further examination, it is interesting to note that there is an upward trend in the number of references cited from 1984 to 1998 in JRS. At the very least it does indicate that JRS authors are using a greater number of references to support their studies, Table 5 Single and Multiple Authorship in JBS and Selected Serials Author JBS JBE* JM* JM· JAMS· JCR· JMR· MS· JPSSM*JME* Eeon* Freq. Pet. Pet. Pet. Pet. Pet. Pet. Pet. Pet. Pet. Pet. Pet. One 49 27.8 77.6 77.5 77.7 76.6 67.2 70.1 64.0 49.6 90.0 57.7 Two 69 39.2 15.4 14.1 14.3 15.4 18.8 15.8 19.0 25.2 9.0 16.4 Three 49 27.8 3.7 5.4 5.1 4.2 6.4 7.8 9.0 11.1 1.0 7.1 Four 7 4.0 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.9 3.9 2.7 4.7 7.9 0.0 4.4 Five or more 2 l.l 2.0 1.7 1.6 1.9 3.7 3.6 3.3 6.2 0.0 14.4 Number of Different Authors 370 299 955 447 520 563 526 300 405 199 13576 Mean Mentions per Author 1.38 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.6 1.6 1.7 2.0 1.1 2.0 Years Published 1984- 1989- 1960- 1984- 1984- 1984- 1984- 1984- 1980- 1979- 1963- 1998 1996 1981 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 1985 1988 Note: JBE is Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship JM is Journal of Marketing JAMS is Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science JCR is Journal of Consumer Marketing JMR is Journal of Marketing Research MS is Marketing Science JPSSM is Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management JME is Journal of Marketing Education Econ is percentages for top 20 Economics journals * Hyman and Steiner (1997) 98 Term Journal of Business Strategies Table 6 Definitions of Citations Definition Vol. 16, No.1 Citation Serial Book Trade Press/ Magazines/Newspaper Publication listed among references at the end of an article Periodical published annually or more frequently that contains articles on various topics One-time publication devoted to one topic (including readings book (essay collection), and handbooks Newspaper or specialty magazine devoted to narrow topic (The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes, Business Week) Proceedings/Conference Published conference proceedings or working paper or Presentation presentations from academic conference Other * Hyman and Steiner (1997) General interest magazine or other source Comparing citation by outlet type for JBS and other selected serials, Table 8 shows that JBS authors cite a larger percent of serials. Serial citations in JBS is 71.8%, compared to 48.9% for Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, 55.7% for Journal of International Business Studies, and 55.7% for Journal of Business Communication. JBS authors cite a far smaller percentage of books/ monograph citations. Books/monograph citations in JBS is 6.9%, compared to 22.4% for Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, 37.4% for Journal of International Business Studies, and 36.0% for Journal ofBusiness Communica- tion. The difference can be attributed to the fact that serial citations may be more valuable to business strategy issues, since scholarly books can become obsolete and outdated rather quickly. Spring 1999 Mehta, Maniam, & Leipnik: The First Fifteen Years Table 7 References and Number of Articles in JBS 99 Year Number Number Average Number of of References of Articles References per Article 1984 33 +71 = 104 5 + 5 = 10 lOA 1985 76 +48 = 124 5+4=9 13.77 1986 59 + 60= 119 5 + 5 = 10 11.9 1987 90+77=167 5+5=10 16.7 1988 90+ 110= 200 6 + 8 = 14 14.28 1989 173 + 178 = 351 8 + 7 = 15 23,4 1990 134 + 140 = 274 7 + 8 = 15 18.26 1991 Il2 + 103 = 215 6 + 8 = 14 15.35 1992 177 + 237 = 414 9 + 8 =17 24.35 1993 122 + 196 = 318 6+7= 13 24.46 1994 230 + 192 =422 6 + 6 = 12 35.16 1995 252 + 147 = 399 6+4=10 39.9 1996 215 + 227 = 442 5 + 5 = 10 44.2 1997 187 + 132 = 319 5+4=9 35.4 1998 183 +147 = 330 4+4=8 36.6 Total 4.198 176 23.85 Table 8 Citations of JBS and Other Selected Serials Citations JDS JDE· JIBS· JBC· JAE· HERJ· Freq. Pct. Pet. Pet. Pct. Pet. Pct. Serials 2934 71.8 48.9 55.7 55.0 51.6 38.3 Books/Monographs 281 6.9 22.4 37.4 36.0 26,4 29.1 Trade Press/ MagazineslNewspaper 239 5.8 14.6 Na Na Na Na Proceedings/Conference Presentations papers 536 13.1 4.1 2.0 Na 2.0 2.4 Dissertations/theses I Na Na Na Na 1.0 8.3 Other 95 2.3 10.0 4.9 9.0 18.1 10.8 Total 4086 100 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Mean Cites per Article 23.85 Na 20.6 35.8 32.3 11.2 16.9 Number of Articles 176 Na 189 252 90 187 106 Years Published 1984-1998 1989- 1984- 1988- 1983- 1974- 1996 1993 1992 1989 1980 Notes: JBE is Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship JIBS is Journal of International Business Studies JBC is Journal of Business Communication JAE is Journal of Accounting Education HERJ is Home Economics Research Journal Na implies not available or neglible • Hyman and Steiner (1997) 100 Journal of Business Strategies Vol. 16, No. I The only other difference noted (see Table 8) is that JBS articles have a higher percentage (13.1 %) of Proceedings/Conference presentations papers compared to 4.1 % for Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, 2.0% for Journal of International Business Studies and almost no such citations for Journal of Business Communication. JBS has a higher percentage of Trade PresslMagazines and Newspapers (5.8%) compared to Journal ofInternational Business Studies or Journal ofBusiness Communication, which has none. Only Journal ofBusiness and Entrepreneurship has a higher percentage (14.6%) than JBS. This is in part due to the fact that JBS and Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship are more practitioner oriented than other journals (e.g., Jour- nal of International Business Studies). Similar to other journals, JBS cites very few dissertations or other miscellaneous publications. Empirical Articles About 43.75% (77 out of 176) of the articles in JBS are empirical. This percentage is somewhat lower than the other surveyed journals. For instance, the Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship had about 63.5% empirical articles (Hyman & Steiner, 1997), Journal ofAccounting Education had 53% (Lehman & Street, 1990), and Journal ofEconomic Psychology had 66% (Waheeduzzaman & Krampf, 1992). Only the Journal of Macromarketing had a somewhat lower percentage (37.5%) than JBS (Finn & McQuitty, 1994). While the empirical articles use various methodologies, most ofthem are relatively easy to compre- hend. This is consistent with the scope of JBS which is orientated to both academicians and practitioners. Conclusions A survey of JBSfor a IS-year period reveals that many authors are affiliated with regional institutions and that a relatively small number of the authors published more than one article. It also shows that co-authorship is getting increasingly common, a trend noticed by others who have written summary articles (Schroeder, Langrehr & Floyd, 1995). Also, authors are choosing to cite an increasing number and a larger variety of sources. The largest percentage of citations in JBS is serial publications. The diversity of the articles suggest that the articles are mainly about management, marketing, and finance. Similar to other academic journals, JBS is dominated by male authors. The mean number of authors in JBS is 2.10 per article, which is consistent with other journals. When William B. Green, the first editor, was asked about the future of JBS, he said "he is confident that the journal will continue to produce quality articles and that it will be successful in the long run." But he also emphasized that JBS must maintain its current focus of both theoretical and practical orientation in order to be of interest to academicians and practitioners. Spring 1999 Mehta, Maniam, & Leipnik: The First Fifteen Years Recommendations 101 Personal interviews were conducted with a convenient sample of several editorial board members of JBS. Their recommendations and views have been aggregated and summarized below. The primary concern expressed consistently by many of the surveyed board members was the similarity in the name between JBS and another journal with an analogous name (i.e., Journal of Business Strategy). In our view, either the editorial board must consider a name change or position JBS differently. Further, the editorial board members felt that JBS must attempt to increase its circulation among both academics and practitioners. One possible solution to help boost circulation, would be to consider the publishing of more special issues, and/or increase the number of issues per year from two to three or four. By either indexing the abstract or the entire journal, most journals increase the readership and dissemi- nation of knowledge. Although JBS have been indexed by Wilson Business Ab- stracts and CARL Uncover abstracting services, another recommendation is to persuade additional abstracting services (such as ABIIINFORM). Based on personal interviews with selected editorial board members and the analysis of both past issues of the JBS and other comparable journals, some additional recommendation warrant consideration. These include, but are not limited to, printing the title, author(s), and abstracts of the forthcoming articles in the current issue; printing the call for papers for special issues in the current issue; securing paid advertisement from large publishers in the business strategy area; and adding an editorial preface and introduction to each issue. To make JBS appeal to a wider audience, some new sections could be incorporated into the journal, such as book reviews and software reviews. Considering the high cost of printing and circulating a journal, one possible solution to offset these expenditures, would be to increase the annual subscrip- tion fee (it is presently $12.50). Similar to many other journals, an alternative could be to offer a three-tier subscription fee (Le., individuals, institutions, and libraries). To generate additional revenues, another option would be to charge a submission fee for the review process and/or publication fee for all accepted articles. Finally, an annual business strategies conference chaired by the editor would significantly help JBS in generating revenues as well as increasing the notoriety of the journal. Some of these recommendations are easy to implement while others may require some additional resources. For instance, the call for papers for the special issue can either be published in the bi-annual issues or mailed out to various institutions, whereas hosting an annual conference or increasing the number of issues per year may require additional resources. To determine the feasibility of implementing some of the above mentioned recommendations, JBS could hold an annual meeting of the editorial board members at one of the conferences which a majority of the board members attend. 102 Journal of Business Strategies Vol. 16, No.1 Limitations and Future Research This study has two key limitations. First, because JBS did not publish bio- sketches of the authors prior to 1991, several other summary and comparisons cannot be undertaken. For instance, the rank of the authors who published in JBS cannot be easily determined. Also the area of specialization of the authors or area of expertise cannot be determined directly. Second, the study did not attempt to assess how well JBS is received by its readers. A formal survey would have provided these insights. References Barnett, A. H., Ault, R. w., & Kaserman, D. L. (1988). The rising incidence of coauthorship in economics: Further evidence. Review of Economics and Statistics 70 (August), 539-543. 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The first five years of the Journal of Economic Psychology. Journal Qf Economic Psychology. 7 (March), 1-15. Wheatley, J. J., & Wilson, L. C. (1987). The origins of published marketing research in the 1980's. In 1987 AMA Summer Educators' CQnference Proceedings (Susan Douglas, et. al. eds). Chicago: American Marketing Association, 260-265. Williams, AJ. and B. Oumlil (1987). A classification and analysis of IPMM articles. Journal of Purchasing and Material Management. 23 (Fall), 24-28. Spring 1999 Mehta, Maniam, & Leipnik: The First Fifteen Years 105 Sanjay S. Mehta (M.S., Ph.D., University of North Texas) is currently an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Sam Houston State University. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics and an MBA in Management from Angelo State University. He has presented over 45 papers at regional. national, and international conferences and served as track chair. session chair, discussant, and reviewer at many of these conferences. He has published over 40 articles in various proceedings and journals. Balasundram Maniam (Ph.D.• University of Mississippi) is currently an Assistant Professor of Finance at Sam Houston State University. He holds an MBA and a B.S. in computer science from Arkansas State University. Dr. Maniam has presented over 50 papers at regional, national and international conferences. He has published over 40 articles in various proceedings and journals. Mark R. Leipnik (Ph.D.• University of California at Santa Barbara) is an Assistant Professor in the Geography Department at Sam Houston State University and Director of a GIS research lab. He holds an MBA from Rice University and undergraduate degrees in Business Economics and Environmental Studies from the University of California. He has published in business application of Geographic Information System (GIS), use of GIS, and related technologies in environmental assessment. The Journal of Business Strategies: The First Fifteen Years